#7 Tartans Open ITA National Team Indoor Championship With 6-3 Win Over #8 Chicago

(NICHOLASVILLE, Ky.) - The seventh-ranked Carnegie Mellon University women's tennis team battled University Athletic Association counterpart and eighth-ranked University of Chicago in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Friday and won 6-3. This year's championships are being played in Nicholasville, Kentucky at the Top Seed Tennis Club and hosted by Centre College. Carnegie Mellon is now 9-1 overall while the Maroons lose their first of the season and are now 6-1.

The Tartans led 2-1 following doubles play after collecting wins at the third and second spots. The tandem of sophomore Janabelle Wu (San Jose, Calif. / Lynbrook) and freshman Bin Zheng (Miami, Fla. / Doral Academy) played third doubles and picked up the Tartans first point with an 8-3 victory. The second point was won with an 8-7 (7) win by the duo of senior Vinaya Rao (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Adlai E. Stevenson) and sophomore Lindy Cornwall (Poway, Calif. / Poway) at second doubles. The pair fought off numerous match points by the Maroons throughout the set to give the Cardinal and Gray the advantage heading into singles play.

Rao earned the Tartans third point with a 6-2, 6-4 straight set win at second singles. Sophomore Danna Taylor (Orlando, Fla. / Circle Christian School) won a straight set match at first singles by the scores of 7-6 (8), 6-4 before Cornwall sealed the win for the Tartans with a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win at fifth singles.

The first-round win marks the ninth such victory in the tournament for the Tartans in 12 appearances. Carnegie Mellon will now meet the winner of second-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges and the host Centre in the championships semifinal on Saturday, February 29 at 1:00 p.m.